Developments in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in recent years mean that many schools now provide a range of training placements and programmes for trainee teachers and, as a result, are engaged in productive partnerships with HEIs and other ITE providers, with some schools having moved to being providers themselves. However, for others, ITE still represents a challenge, even an extra burden on top of all the demands that they have to fulfil for their pupils, and they are anxious that commitment to training new, relatively inexperienced, colleagues will have a detrimental effect on pupils’ education and progress.

In my view, the positive benefits of engaging in ITE provision now need to be actively promoted to such schools, particularly those facing challenging circumstances (SfCC). Having recently organised an event to promote ITE to Challenge schools, I was again inspired by school colleagues who are already evangelists for recruiting trainee teachers in innovative projects and activities which engage pupils and have direct impact on their progress. One inner city school was keen to show that using ITE as one of its key drivers for improved results has had huge impact – their %A*-C GCSE results have trebled in two years!

The “challenge” now is sharing this with others so that ITE can be seen as a real resource for improving the learning of both staff and pupils.